Combination Therapies Against HIV-1 Infection: Exploring the Concept of Combining Antiretroviral Drug Treatments with HIV-1 Immune-Based Therapies in Asymptomatic Individuals. . .

The deleterious effect of HIV on the immune system begins at the time of infection. At seroconversion the virologie and immunologie factors that ultimately will dictate the rate of disease progression are believed to be already in place. The concept developed in this paper implies that, to impact significantly on the progression of disease, anti-HIV therapies should be initiated as early as possible in asymptomatic individuals. Published results have shown that combination drug therapies are potent in reducing HIV-1 RNA load in plasma in asymptomatic individuals, and that some HIV-1 immune-based therapies have a positive impact on immunological markers of disease progression, including HIV-1 cell-mediated immunity (CMI) and CD4 percent. The strategy discussed is to test a combination of antiretroviral therapy with HIV-1 immune-based therapy, such as the inactivated HIV-1 Immunogen preparation, in asymptomatic individuals. The goal of this combination approach is to overcome the limitations of each therapy...